Alli Mauzey and Andy Kelso soon will join the cast of the first North American touring version of “Wicked.” Mauzey will be playing the role of Glinda, which she has previously played on both Broadway and in a San Francisco version of the musical. Kelso is best known for playing Sky in “Mamma Mia!” and will play Fiyero in “Wicked.” Both will join the cast September 24 in Tempe Ariz.,...

The North American touring version of “Riverdance” has been continuously on tour since 1996, and has sometimes had two companies touring simultaneously. But now the tour is in its final leg, an 82 city farewell tour that will run through June. Producers say that though there is still interest in the tour from fans in the United States and Canada, the show will be focusing on new markets in South...

“The King’s Speech,” the film that picked up the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture, has been adapted into a play that currently is touring England and will likely transfer to West End in the near future. David Seidler, who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film, originally wrote the piece for the stage, but later rewrote it as a screenplay. Seidler turned the film adaptation back into...

The musical adaptation of “The Lion King” will embark on its first-ever tour of the United Kingdom later this year. The first stop of the tour will be at the Bristol Hippodrome on August 31 for 11 weeks, and then the production will travel to the Palace Theatre in Manchester. After that, the tour will hit ten cities in the U.K. and Ireland over the next two-and-a-half years. The London version of...

Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan’s Tony Award-winning musical “The Producers” will be presented at the Hollywood Bowl for three days this summer as part of the venue’s summer season. The play, based on Brooks’ 1968 Oscar-winning film of the same name, will be held July 27-29. Playbill reports the production will feature an all-star cast, but no cast has been announced at this time. The official description of the musical lists...

After his one-man show “Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It” finishes its three-week limited run on Broadway in March, William Shatner will take it around America on a national tour. The Broadway run begins previews on Valentine’s Day with an opening two days later on February 16, and will end on March 4. The first date of the tour will be held on March 10 in Los Angeles. After that,...

It was previously announced that the stage adaptation of “Flashdance – The Musical” will land on Broadway this fall, but it was recently reported that a separate production will tour America beginning in January 2013. The performances will begin in the musical’s setting, Pittsburgh, on New Year’s Day, and will go on to play in 25 markets in North America. Further information on cities and dates will be announced in the...

When it was announced recently that the first touring production of the Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon” would land initially in Denver, the Salt Lake Tribune called the production “the hottest show in the U.S.” And judging by how fast the show sold out in Denver, the paper may have been right. All 51,000 tickets for the Denver run, which will take place from August 14 to September 2, sold...

The high profile, pro gay marriage play “8” is set make its way around the country in the upcoming months to promote gay rights and support the legalization of gay marriage. The play is based on the transcript of the 2010 federal court case dealing with the legality of Proposition 8, which was the ballot initiative that outlawed same sex marriage in California. The play has been thrust into the spotlight...

The Las Vegas production of “Phantom of the Opera” will close September 2. A shortened version of the popular Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, “Phantom—the Vegas Spectacular,” opened at the Venetian in 2006. When it closes, it will have had 2,691 performances, according to its producers. The show runs for 95 minutes, while the original production that plays at the Majestic on Broadway runs two-and-a-half hours plus an intermission. Both versions are...